A Young Patriot follows Joseph from his grandparents' Connecticut farm to New York State, through Pennsylvania, into forts and encampments, into street battles and battles fought on open ground, and eventually to Yorktown in Virginia. Whether farms or forests, the American countryside was a treacherous place for soldiers on either side.

Meadows engulfed in the smoke from firing muskets were terrifying places because of their confusion; mud, mist, cold were enemies that added to panic and despair. In the early confrontations, Americans ambushed British soldiers, using the cover of trees and buildings to whittle down the numbers of their enemy. The Continental Army was not much of a force initially, and it suffered from a lack of professionalism and a lack of coherent direction from one unit to another.

In the defense of New York, Joseph and other American soldiers fight courageously, but they are outgunned and out-maneuvered...